Principals Present Pandemic-Relief Plans

More outdoor classrooms. Visits from local artists. New cybersecurity courses. Improvements to a greenhouse. A wellness room for school staff.

Those are some plans principals have for investing a chunk of the federal pandemic relief coming to New Haven Public Schools.

The money to NHPS is coming through the federal American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund.

In addition to district-wide decisions about how to spend the bulk of the money, principals have been invited to draw up plans for spending between $10,000 to $200,000 over the next three years (based on their schools’ enrollments). Click here to see how much each school gets.

Three principals presented their plans to the Board of Education during its regular Monday meeting. (View the presentation here.)

The ARP ESSER Grant provided NHPS with a total amount of $80,017,233. Through focus groups that included over 5,000 students, administration, community partners, teachers, staff, and families, the district identified five priority areas for investment: academics, family and community engagement, social and emotional learning, technology, and safe and healthy schools.

All schools have submitted their ARP ESSER Plans for review and have been approved by their designated assistant superintendents.

Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Leadership Keisha Redd-Hannans Redd-Hannans said the district provided the schools with the ability to personalize how to spend funds as an alternative to a ​“top-down decision process.”

Plans for Schools

K‑8 Fair Haven School Principal Monica Morales presented her improvement plan Monday night. With $150,000 this year, Morales said, the school will invest in three goals: learning acceleration, ensuring equitable access for english language learner (ELL) students through expansion of dual language programing, and nurturing students’ social emotion learning (SEL) and physical wellness.

“We pride ourselves at Fair Haven School on celebrating our diversity and our multicultural population, so we really want to continue to enhance with some resources to aid in teaching the background knowledge and educating our students and our staff member on all of the diverse culture that we do celebrate in our school community,” Morales said.

Her presentation for Fair Haven School improvement plans included hiring math and special education tutors; providing after-school programming for kindergarteners; hosting more celebrations of diversity, multiculturalism, college and career readiness; hiring a part time SEL coach; creating a staff wellness room for self-care; revitalizing the school’s greenhouse for educational access to fifth through eighth-grade students; and establishing outdoor learning spaces.

Events like ​“breakfast and biliteracy” and ​“math and muffins” are parent workshops in the making focused on technology, literacy, math, and language, Morales said.

Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) Principal Medria Blue plans to invest in improving ​“college, career, and life preparedness and inequity,” she said during her Monday presentation.

ESUMS will receive $100,000 per year in ARP ESSER grant funding.

Blue detailed plans to add a new reading curriculum, technology classes for middle schoolers, finance and cybersecurity classes, industry certification opportunities, AP economics, dual credit courses, improvements to ESUMS’s SEL (social-emotional learning) program through a partnership with the Yale Ruler Program, and improved anti-bias/anti-racism professional development and curriculum implementation.

For the next three years Edgewood School will receive $100,000 per year to invest in improvements.

Edgewood has updated its school mission and goals this year to focus on equity, academic discourse, and outdoor exploration, said Principal Nick Perrone.

“We believe that we want to keep it local and concentrate on local artist and local organization so that the money is being spent in our community,” Perrone said.

Perrone said the grant funds will be used for outdoor learning improvements, including a kindergarten-through-second grade slop kitchen, music outdoor makerspace, and shaded areas for outdoor classrooms, anti-bias/anti-racism training for staff, a schoolwide initiative engaging nine local artists with students on a year-long installation, after-school programing scholarships, and a partnership with the SEL-focused Miss Kendra Program.